Boot Camp Follow-Up

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This is the Truth Network. The heart of every man craves a great adventure, but life doesn't usually feel that way. Jesus speaks of narrow gates and wide roads, but the masculine journey is filled with many twists and turns.

So how do we keep from losing heart while trying to find the good way when life feels more like a losing battle than something worth dying for? Grab your gear and come on a quest with your band of brothers who will serve as the guides in what we call the masculine journey. The masculine journey starts here now. But, you know, I couldn't help but note at the beginning of this podcast that once again, Sam has named the topic and gone out of town. But he is with us. And, you know, but he's at the beach, you know, where he is second home. Not necessarily by choice.

I mean, a lot of people choose to go to the beach. Sam acts as if it's a big burden. I don't know. Yeah. So, Sam, I mean, this boot camp crazy stuff with COVID, you know, on the ramp up again, you know, Governor Cooper sends out a thing that kind of, you know, rocked our world there for a few minutes. And you can't say it doesn't come without a battle, does it, Sam? No, that's definitely when you know you're onto something is when the battle is really bad. You know, the enemy is not happy and he's trying to influence us in other ways. And so it definitely had its warfare.

But, you know, it's such a fruitful time as well. And I'm just excited to hear what all God's done for you guys as we were able to kind of see what God did for some of the campers as well. One of the things he did and one of the war fears that I personally fought was that literally, I think it was two and a half weeks before the boot camp, we were meeting in that room back there and we'd come to the conclusion that we had four participants. And we were like, oh, you know, like, wow, like, but man, this is what public schools really shoot for, you know, we had like a two to one ratio of teachers to students.

But Darren, they showed up, didn't they? Yeah, at the last minute, you know, guys kept popping in and registering four or five guys at a time and that sort of thing. And, you know, we ended up with a handful and it was cool.

It was it was really cool. It was still not a huge group. But, you know, we're we've had numbers from, I don't know, 60 or 70 down to, you know, 20, 25, something like that over the years at different times.

We never do massive numbers. And we've kind of learned that, you know, the smaller it is, the more intimate it is. And the more time we typically get to spend with the participants, getting to know them, hearing their stories, all that kind of stuff. And that's just a tremendously rich time. I didn't get to spend a ton of time with everybody this time because I was kind of stuck up in the tech booth, running computers and stuff. But I did get to spend some quality time with a few guys that I really, you know, enjoyed getting to know better and hearing their stories and just being encouraged by their lives. Yeah, I think we had 26.

Was that the where it kind of ended up, Sam? So it was... What did you count my split personality? Because that would have made it 27.

Yeah, I thought it would have been 32. Okay, well, yeah, I mean, it was it on a Tuesday? On Tuesdays, you know, there's seven of me. So let's start with Darren. You know, you had given us this clip from Ragamuffin. And so take us kind of where you were to where you are. Well, do you want to play the clip?

I'll set it up real fast. But this is, you know, from the movie Ragamuffin, which is the story of the life of Richard, Rich Mullins. And he's really in a downtime and he's actually playing a concert at a church and he finds himself in the piano trying to sing. And really, his heart is not in it. His heart is broken. And he's tired of the pose of being the Christian artist. And he just kind of comes clean about that and is pretty authentic about it in this clip.

And then we'll talk about it. You know, you guys are all into that born again thing, which is fine. We do need to be born again. Jesus said that to a guy named Nicodemus.

If you tell me I need to be born again to enter the kingdom of God, I can tell you that you need to sell everything you have and give it to the poor. Because Jesus said that to one guy, too. Maybe that's why God invented highlighters, so we can highlight what we like in the Bible and just ignore the rest. I think that when we do things to corrupt our lives, that we're really just trying to comfort some ache that we have. And I think that the church exists because we all kind of need each other. And why are we all walking around church wearing these masks, pretending to be perfect?

It's so exhausting. Why do we do it? And I think that our only hope is the love of God. So, there you have it. Wearing a mask is exhausting.

And the only hope is the love of God. And so, I played that, I don't know, three weeks ago on the show, and just saying that I was really going after my own pose, my own poser mentality sometimes. We talk about that on here a lot, and guys may think, hey, we got it all together, and we don't pose.

But we do. And God's been dealing with me on that, and ultimately, I think he's been dealing with me by just letting me pose. And letting me get tired of it.

And so, as we began to pray about what we wanted, that was the thing. God, I'm tired of posing. I don't do it as much as I did ten years ago. I don't do it as much as I did one year ago. But I still do it.

I still feel pulled towards it at certain times when I don't feel like I've got what it takes, or I don't feel like I've got the answers. And so, in the last few months, I've been building a house, and almost every day, there's some guy that specializes in some trade, and he comes to my house and he says, alright, you want to put the thingamajig and the doo-wopey, and we'll just stick it over here and the thingamajology. And I'm like, I don't have a clue what you just said.

220 or 221, whatever it takes. Exactly. I know a lot about building, but I don't know your job that well, and you just talked in terminologies you think I know, and I would love to pose as if I did. But I'm not going to, because I won't learn anything if I do that.

And so, please, teach me as if I'm dumb as a rock, because I probably am, and lead me into some knowledge here. And so, that was kind of my prayer for Jesus to do that, and I think he was successful. I tried really hard all weekend to not wear that pose. And the way that came at me is God began to tell me, you know, Darren, you think you're either not enough or you're too much. And for years, it was you're not enough. And that causes the pose even more, right? But lately, it's been you're too much. Well, that comes with a pose too, because you try to be kind and sweet and considerate and gentle and all of those things when that's not necessarily what's needed in that situation.

And so, I don't like being the jerk, you know, I don't. But sometimes, you know, authenticity is what God's after. And so, I really delved into that and God worked with me a lot in this boot camp and even after and still today is working with me on that authentic. And how do I love others authentically? And so right now, I'm kind of living in First Corinthians 13, and a few other places just really digging in deep with those things and trying to see because I do believe, as Rich Mullins said, our only hope is the love of God.

So I need to understand that better for me, for, you know, everybody else, and then try to tap into that and love others the way God does, including myself. Cool. Wonderful. So Sam?

Robby? It's your turn. I got nothing.

Yeah, I got nothing. Well, it's, you know, I may get cut off at some point in time, but this boot camp was really impactful for me and I think it's amazing. You know, I don't know how many I've been to.

It's got to be close to 20, over 20 boot camps I've been to and God consistently just brings healing and restoration. And, you know, one of the things I'd prayed about, or one of the things I'd asked for was just freedom. I played the Braveheart clip, Freedom, just when he's laying there, you know, and that's all he can scream is I just want freedom because I didn't really know what my heart needed.

And I knew God did. And so we went into that poser session and Mark taught on the poser and he said something in a way that I'd heard it almost as if the first time is the poser's driven out of fear. And so this topic of dating, you know, I kind of quit dating anybody. You know, I've been telling myself it's, you know, I just, I don't really feel like doing it.

It's not really worth it, you know, those kinds of things. But then I'll watch a movie on TV that has a love story and my heart says, yeah, I really want that. And so I spent some time after Mark's talk going out to God and saying, God, what am I really afraid of in this area?

I don't think I'm posing, but obviously I must be because my heart's not aligned with my action. And so, you know, what is it? And he said, well, you know, you're afraid of being hurt again. It's that and you're afraid that the choice that you make won't be the right choice because you've tried twice and it's not worked out twice as far as being married. You know, and he said, that's where your fear is and that's what you really need to work on. And I didn't get freedom from it yet, but I got a clear direction and a great place to spend some time with God, you know, and then we had the wound talk. And so I continued on that theme and said, God, what's my wound, you know, out of my relationships?

What have I taken away? Not necessarily what other people have given me, but what have I internalized as my wound here? And he said, you know, your wound is, it doesn't matter what you do, you won't be enough. And then there was a pause and, you know, there was an audible pause from him and he said, and the truth is, you won't be. And that may sound mean, but it was very, very kind.

What God was telling me was, we can never be enough. You can't fix the other person's heart. You can be there, you can support them, you can love on them. You can't heal them.

You can't be their all and their everything, you know, and, you know, change them completely. You know, God has to do that. And so those were some really cool things that God really started me on. But I did get freedom. If you got more time, you want me to share one more thing? You got about a minute.

Okay. Yeah, we went out after the good, the new name and I'm like, God, you give me a bunch of names, they've been good. You know, I don't know, did you get anything for me? It was kind of like that. Out of a very kind place, he said, you're a good father. And I had been beating myself up for a long time just on how I was inconsistent, how I had some anger issues when my kids were little. And God's words were, you're a good father.

And that meant everything to me coming from him. Wow. Yeah, there's a lot of cool stuff coming, a lot ahead from all the other folks I'm very excited to share with you.

We haven't got our next new bootcamp posted yet, but go to masculinejourney.org to find out what we're doing next. Rodney here with another great product from MyPillow. It's the new mattress topper. Get a MyPillow mattress topper and get some of the best sleep of your life.

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That's mypillow.com, promo code TRUTH or call 800-944-5396. Now what do we do? Just be yourselves. Where are you going? I'm going to pick a fight. If it feels like every day is picking a fight, then you might want to come listen to The Masculine Journey and find out why we use clips like these to illustrate the story God is telling in the lives of men today.

The truth is God designed you to pick a fight, but which fights do we pick? Well, grab your gear and come on a quest every Saturday at noon. And now The Masculine Journey After Hours Podcast, Masculine Journey Radio. Hi, this is Sam with Masculine Journey.

I'm here with my son Eli. We're going to talk about ways that you can help support the ministry. One way, you can go to smile.amazon.com, go to smile.amazon.com. There's information on our website there on how to do that. You can go to facebook.com and click the donate button, or you can go to masculinejourney.org and find the donate button, masculinejourney.org. Or if you want to mail something in, mail it to P.O.

Box 550, Kernersville, North Carolina, 27285. In the year of our Lord, 1314, patriots of Scotland, starving and outnumbered, charge the fields of Bannockburn. They fought like warrior poets.

They fought like Scotsmen and won their freedom. So Darren, you picked that little clip there. It certainly goes along with what Sam said. Yeah, it does go with what Sam said and it goes with what I was thinking because, you know, ultimately when you're asking God to help you not pose, you're asking for freedom, right?

You're asking freedom to be yourself. And that's maybe enough, maybe not enough, as Sam was just talking about before the break at times. And to know that that's okay and that God has you in that. And, you know, I think you're the one that told the story, Robby, at boot camp that, you know, before a Scotsman could become a warrior, he had to become a poet. So you learn to use your head and your heart before you use your might. And so that's a lot of what's happening at a boot camp. I mean, it's a war.

You know, we talked about it before the show. When I head out, when I leave my house going to a boot camp, I prefer to be in the car by myself. And there's a reason for that because I am definitely getting my game face on. And it's not that I have to hype myself up. I have a smile on my face.

I have a twinkle in my eye. My heart is full as I'm leaving to go to a boot camp. But by the time I get there, God has done some sort of transformation in my heart and mind that I am 100% there going to battle. And knowing that real life and real death happens there and that there are real consequences to things that we do, things that we say. The mission at a boot camp is going after a man's heart and that there are so many men there that are entrusting us or trusting us to come after their hearts or to let God come after their hearts through us.

And so that's an extremely serious thing. And it's not unlike opening my eyes and seeing the chariots surrounding the city and all of the angels of God there being ready for battle. I get a sense of that at every boot camp. And so it was a bunch of warrior poets fighting.

And you were talking about that before the show. I just thought about how wholehearted that we talk about Psalm 119 32. God, help me to run in the path of your commandments when you enlarge my heart. And so when you see guys, and I'm thinking about Jim Bericke on the technical stuff. I mean, he's wholehearted.

Like, what can I do to help? Rodney's putting up tape. He's become the new tape player.

I mean, the light police over anything Sam could ever have thought about. I'm just watching all these people coming in, right? Wholehearted. Like, they are arriving. You know, Andy was on his talk like nothing I've ever seen him. He was just laser focused on what am I going to deliver?

How am I going to deliver it? And to see men walking in their whole heart. You know, clearly everybody's on that list. And if you've seen Corn show up, you know, he was wholehearted, believe me. And Corn's whole heart is, you might think that's too much, wouldn't you, Rodney?

One just might. But what would we have missed? What would we have missed, Andy, if Corn wasn't delivering the whole package? Diversity, for sure. Entertainment.

But no, really. Just the uniqueness of God in individuals. He brought a special part of the image of God that everybody was drawn to. You know, I mean, he is a character, but that's him. He's not posing when he's showing his character. That's who he is. What you see is what you get. But it's very, he's not dull.

Doesn't he remind you of any? Very genuine. Very authentic. Serious.

Warrior. Like, you do not mess with this guy. And then one minute you're there, right? Like, don't mess with this guy. He's scary. And the next minute, you're crying with him. You know?

It's very serious stuff, and the man's heart just leaps out of his chest at you. I think that's what's cool, too, just beyond Corn, but, you know, he's a great example of diversity. But just what we get each time.

You get a new batch of campers, and sometimes they're mixed in and they're the same one. And you know those personalities. But the way that, you know, God, it's just like he's put us together. We're all unique and different personalities.

And just how he does that as a group. But then yet the stories and the backdrops. Not only do we share our stories, I believe these guys get to start sharing their own stories amongst the other. And there's healing that takes place and camaraderie and all that. It's just, it's cool to see it happen.

It is. So how about you, Andy? You had a question going in. So my question, if you recall from the last show, was more of kind of a historical thing. And it really had to do with new name and identity and anger and some other stuff.

I actually didn't stick with that. I really didn't have anything specific. I was heads down on the talk. I just wanted to do my talk right. I just wanted to have peace and not be nervous and deliver what God had put on my heart. And I feel like there were a couple of times where I just really had to press in and God delivered, I believe. I just sensed his presence and I didn't.

I was not nervous. I mean, that's not, that's something I'm still working on progress. But I think the thing that I got the most out of is in your talk when you were doing your place in the story, God has kind of put on my heart. I know that I've kind of, during this COVID thing, it's kind of work, got a lot of stuff going around the house and work and stuff. And I'm not taking enough time probably to go address my heart and do those things. And there's things that God's put into me from a child that I've probably gotten away from. And you guys have went back, Sam's painting, Robby's playing the guitar, Darren's writing. Everybody has different things and I just felt like it was time to kind of press in.

I don't know what those things are, but something came alive into me to where I really feel like I need to press into that. Wow, that's something we can pray for, isn't it, that God would kind of paint that picture. So he had this clip, Field of Dreams. You want to set that up for us?

Sure. So this is really, it gets kind of tied to my talk. I did the sonship talk and that's where it comes from. And it's Field of Dreams, a father who the son never knew.

They meet out in the field. The father's played this baseball game, caught a good game. His son kind of acknowledges that. And it's just really them reconnecting because they never knew each other because the father had died. So anyway, it's just them kind of reconnecting and the son really connecting over baseball, which was common interest for both of them.

You catch a good game. Thank you. It's so beautiful here.

For me, it's like a dream come true. Can I ask you something? Is this heaven? It's Iowa.

Iowa? Yeah. This morning was heaven. Is there a heaven? Oh yeah. It's the place dreams come true.

Maybe this is heaven. Good night, Ricky. Good night, John. Hey, Dad? You want to have a catch?

I'd like that. Yeah, so what I liked about hearing it again just kind of brought it home more of what I was thinking, too, is they're talking about heaven. There's eternity. There's things that God has put in our heart that we like. It's gifts from him of what makes us individuals. I love sports.

Never made it on a professional team. I have hope that I'm going to get to play some baseball in heaven, play catch with Dad. And that's not too far-fetched. I believe that there's things that we can't even imagine. I got a lot of that from John Eldridge. He talks about the restoration of all things and what we can expect in heaven. But there's things that he put in our heart for us to experience here that's beyond sitting there looking at a screen or watching a movie or consuming something, something we're actively pursuing that he's gifted us from the very beginning of our creation as an individual. Yeah, and going into that talk you did that you made a connection with your story and your Heavenly Father and your earthly father that was just mind-boggling as I was sitting there. And you sense the intimacy that is there in this clip between the Father and the Son and really in both cases with your earthly father on the last trip that you got to take and then God showing you, I've got so much more of that for you, Andy.

Absolutely, yeah. What it was was my dad before he left and I'd been separated for him. I mean he had left the state all through my teenage years which to me is the most formational. Before he left he knew that he was going to be away a long time and he took me on a trip and took me to three distinct places that I don't have time to explain but they made an impact on me. As I got into this message deeper and it talked about the intimacy of the Father, I'd heard guys talking about getting away with God and going out into creation and just letting him minister to you because I mean it's no different than him taking and sending Abraham from one country to another.

It's an adventure, it's a journey and a lot of times you can't get that unless you really get alone. So when I did, I told the guys, it was part of my story, I went to Yosemite and there were three unique things that he showed me in the natural, in the beauty of creation. One of them was, I'll explain it on the after hours, there were three gifts that equated back to the three gifts that my dad I felt had given me on my original trip and God just kind of came in and said I'm not going to be outdone. I was right there with you. I was right there with you when you were a young boy and he was right there with you now. Beautiful stuff. Well, you may know I had said I was going to play classical gas and I'd also talked a lot about some lies that I was going to uncover or I was praying that God would show me so we're going to do that after hours if you want to hear what that actually sounded like, what that went through. It was no less a battle than getting there. I can assure you we're going to hear Rodney and his coneheads. We've got so much more coming after hours but you're going to have to go to MasclerJourney.org to hear all that. This is the Truth Network.